The Silent Years
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The Silent Years

| INDIE

| INDIE
Band Alternative Rock

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This band has not uploaded any videos

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Press


"Hey, This Is Awesome! (Spin.com Band of the Month in the Jan. 2007 issue of Spin Magazine)"

The Silent Years' self-titled debut, out Oct. 24, melds the earnestness of Ted Leo and the windswept melodies of Doves with shimmering aplomb. "Someone to Keep Us Warm," the album's first single, is a charming, ultramelodic indie-pop gem, and it's now soundtracking an entrancing video set in what appears to be a diorama. In the clip's neverworld, bears chase puppets of the band up trees just before they have to cross winter tundra, stare down angry penguins, and sail through crocodile infested waters.
- Spin


"The Silent Years"

You should fall in love with The Silent Years. The Silent Years manage to craft an indie pop soundtrack that could be anyone’s soundtrack to their life. Catchy melodic hooks that delve into ranges usually reserved for a select cast of Elliott Smith, Radiohead, My Morning Jacket, and Wilco; this is an album of the year runner-up for sure - Smother Magazine


"No Secret: The Silent Years"

Like most groups influenced by Radiohead, the Silent Years try to make atmosphere another instrument. The liners for the Detroit-area quartet's full-length debut note six, 10 and 14 instruments for each member — things like shruti boxes and space echo appearing alongside the usual complement of guitars, bass, drums and keys. But while Radiohead often uses technology and effects to create claustrophobia, Silent Years believe in better living through sound — odd noises and soft bumps in the night course through songs such as "No Secrets," "Someone to Keep Us Warm" and "Devil Got My Woman," and Josh Epstein's occasional vocal resemblance to Jeff Buckley only makes them even more pleasantly disorienting. (Cryptic, ear-catching lyrical turns complete the picture.) But all the recordings of birdsongs in the world ("Lidocaine") won't matter if the songcraft isn't strong, and fortunately the Silent Years have that covered too. It takes a few listens for their thing to really click, but, once it does, the melodies freshen like spring flowers and you appreciate the restraint Silent Years display throughout, because it's clear that no one is trying to sound too grand on their big national debut. The upbeat songs just hit a sweet spot similar to Guster, and the experiments with atmosphere quietly engross. This is a pop album with depth, and that's a nice thing for a band to add to its list. - Detroit Metro Times


"The Silent Years CMJ 2006"

If you went to CMJ, I hope you happened to catch a live set by The Silent Years. When I first started hearing talk of their self-titled album a few weeks before its release, everything about these guys gave me a good feeling. That is, I heard their single "Someone to Keep Us Warm," which is an indie pop gem, and then saw the album cover, which features (what looks like) a diorama of wildlife, and checked out their website, which is really cute and fun flash stuff. With that overwhelmingly positive feeling I got from just those three elements, how could I not love this band? ... Really what I want to do is take the album to a zoo and play it over the speakers because not only do I think the animals would love it, but it's also great music for obvserving animals too. Yes, the whole "animal" theme the band has going for it sort of influences that thought, but I wouldn't be mentioning it if I didn't think it worked. It's also very much a "fall" sort of album, perfect for watching the leaves change color and birds fly south for the winter. Most importantly, it makes me smile. I hope it has the same effect on you. - Faronheit blog


"The Silent Years Album Review"

it is clear the Detroit natives and childhood friends have taken the sounds that echo through the Motor City to create an intricate cohesion of influences to produce an album as diverse as the music that has emerged from the city before them. On the album released by NoAlternative Records, The Silent Years’ have made atmosphere an instrument in and of itself filling each song to the rim with flourishing noises that flow gracefully in between the band’s standard set up of guitars, bass, keys and drums. Josh Epstein, brothers Jon and Jeremy Edwards along with Pat Michalak and Rosalind Christian are credited with playing an average of about nine instruments each on their self-titled album varying from organs to toy glockenspiels to noise gizmos and all the hand claps the five piece can muster creating a record where each song varies in sound from the last. However, the lyrical and musical content makes the record slightly universal and somehow collectively fit. Epstein sings songs about how we’re all the same at the end of the day, sometimes we just need someone there and we’re all trying to get better. The Silent Years’ complex use of instruments and Epstein’s vocal range and arrangements make for an intricate rock record with bluesy interludes featuring harmonica and xylophone... - Urban Pollution


"The Silent Years"

The most engaging rock show we've ever seen. This band must be caught in an intimate setting while you still can. - Static Magazine


"The Silent Years - The Silent Years"

"This group is on its way to becoming a staple in music history. Don't be fooled when I compare this album to other bands because they are very different. Instead of being a group of incredible radio-friendly pop songs you can make out to, the group tried something new with indie type sounds and strong songwriting. “The Silent Years” shines brightly in the world of bored downloading crazy consumers who only purchase the one song they like. Go out and buy the album. Read the lyrics, appreciate the art, sit in your room with your headphones on and think of a time when people would stop everything, and just listened to music for awhile."
-punkpressonline.com - punkpressonline.com


"The Silent Years"

"The band sharpened its chops by first recording dozens of demos. The music that emerged straddles the line between indie rock and pop, with soaring melodies, precise guitar work and Josh Epstein's vocals (think a less anguished Gary Puckett, if you remember the '60s) folded into distinctly modern arrangements"
-LA Times - LA Times


"The Village Voice: The Silent Years"

"Detroit fourtet The Silent Years just released a debut (featuring must-download anthem "The Devil Wears Sunshine") that teeters between raw rock and lilting pop. Frontman Josh Epstein's got a killer set of pipes, so let's hear more."
-The Village Voice - The Village Voice


"The Silent Years Record Review, 7.3 out of 10"

"The Silent Years is a good debut album from astute pop craftsmen who should have enough tricks up their sleeves to last beyond a group's initial burst of creativity." - Pitchfork


Discography

Stand Still Like The Hummingbird EP, 2005, Self-released
Self-titled CDLP, 2006, No Alternative Records
"The Globe," August 2008, Defend Music

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Bio

The Silent Years certainly garnered their share of attention in 2006 and 2007 with their self-titled debut LP. Thanks in large part to the single, "Someone to Keep Us Warm", Spin named them Underground Artist of 2007 (whatever that means) and CMJ named them an artist to watch as well.

With their sophomore album, The Globe, due out in August, The Silent Years are about to get even bigger. This latest effort is a cohesive collection of densely layered tracks produced by Chris Coady, who has worked with the likes of TV on the Radio, Grizzly Bear, and Blonde Redhead. The Globe is a thing of beauty, nearly perfect on so many levels. Hailing from Detroit, The Silent Years are no Rock City garage band, more likely honing their craft in the attic or on the roof. Their songs reach gloriously upward, and The Globe progresses in that direction with shades of a concept album. The lush compositions are themselves grand assertions, and Josh Epstein’s lyrics and vocals follow suit. The album title is the metaphor at play, a symbol of scale in each direction, and the songs shift naturally from the microscopic to the universal.

Critically acclaimed by the press and having been compared to and equally inspired by, artists such as Elliot Smith, Tim Buckley, Flaming Lips and Sunny Day Real Estate; they combine simple and sweet melodies with sharp and powerful bursts of emotion via instrument and vox; leaving even the most stoic of listeners with goose bumps and a smile. Allow yourself to be taken into the weird and wondrous world created by The Silent Years, a very special band indeed.